Three-finger salute (Serbian)

The three-finger salute (Serbian: три прста/tri prsta, "three fingers"), commonly known as the Serb salute, is a salute which originally expressed Serbian Orthodoxy, that today simply is an expression, a gesture, for ethnic Serbs and Serbia, made by extending the thumb, index, and middle fingers of one or both hands.

“

the salute remains a distinctive sign for the ethnic Serb and a symbol for belonging to the Serbian nation.[1]

”

—Political scientist Anamaria Dutceac Segeste, 2011

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The Serbs, when swearing Oath, historically used the three fingers (collected, as when crossing) along with the greetings "My Holy Trinity" (Svetog mi Trojstva) or "for the Honorable Cross and Golden Freedom" (za krst časni i slobodu zlatnu) during formal and religious events.[2] The salute was often made with both hands, raised above the head.[2]Karađorđe was appointed leader of the Serbian rebels after they all raised their "three fingers in the air" and thereby swore Oath.[3]Paja Jovanović's painting, Takovo Uprising (1898), depicts Miloš Obrenović holding a war flag and saluting with three fingers.[2]

Takovo Uprising (1898)

Serbian Metropolitan Nikolaj Velimirović (1881–1956) called for a Serbian salute in which three fingers were to be raised along the greeting: "Thus Help Us God!".[4] In Serbian and Orthodox tradition, the number three is exceptionally important.[2] A Serbian saying goes "There is no cross without three fingers" (Nema krsta bez tri prsta).[5]

The first popularized use of the three-finger salute (with fingers separated) was in 1988, when Serbs from Srem, Banat and Kosovo used it to counter the Albanian, Croat and Slovenian use of the V sign, during that time's political events. Historian Dragan Petrović stresses that Vuk Drašković was not the "author" of the salute, but that greater credit belongs to Mirko Jović and Jovan Rašković.[2]Vuk Drašković, the leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement political party, said in a 2007 interview that he first used it in 1990 at the founding meeting of the party, inspired by Paja Jovanović's painting (The Takovo Uprising) depicting Miloš Obrenović greeting Serb insurgents with three extended fingers during the Second Serbian Uprising of 1815.[6] During the March 1991 street demonstrations in Belgrade, the three fingers were massively used by Drašković's supporters, representing the three demands that the Serbian Renewal Movement had put before the government.[7][8][better source needed] At the eve of the Yugoslav wars, the salute was popularized by Jovan Rašković, leader of the Republic of Serbian Krajina.

The salute is often used by sport fans and players when celebrating sport victories. After winning the 1995 European basketball championship, the entire then-Yugoslav team displayed the three fingers. Sasha Djordjevic says he flashed the three fingers "not to be provocative. Just: that's Serbia, that's us, that's me – nothing else. It's my pride."[9] More recently, Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic has shown the three-finger salute often after his victories.

According to political scientist Anamaria Dutceac Segeste, the significance of the salute is diverse: although it has been used by nationalists, it cannot be monopolized as such; it has been used without aggressive nationalist connotations, i.e. at sport events, by opponents of Milošević, by President Boris Tadić during the 2008 Summer Olympics, etc.[1]

When Russian peacekeeping troops entered Sarajevo in 1994, they used the salute when greeting the Serb troops.[10] Because of this, they were branded pro-Serb; the UNPROFOR used the Serb salute when greeting the Serbs, and the V sign when greeting the Bosniaks, showing impartiality.[11] There were instances when non-Serb captives were forced to use the salute.[12] During the Croatian War, there were instances of massacred Serb civilians having had their three fingers on the right hand cut off.[13]

2007 Eurovision winner Marija Šerifović used the salute when celebrating points; controversially, she used the salute when receiving the maximum of 12 points from Bosnian viewers, after which Bosnian media reported it as being used as a direct provocation.[14][15] The Swedish-Serbian National Association called it ridiculous, saying that the salute is not to be mistaken in that way, but viewed of as nothing more than a modified V sign.[16]Aleksandar Šapić said "I know that it was used by soldiers in war, but I do not raise three fingers because I hate someone. I respect all peoples, and know what is in my heart."[17]

Rade Leskovac, president of a Serb minority party in Croatia, caused controversy in 2007 when election posters featuring him with the salute were posted around Vukovar.[18] In 2015, an art-piece mural on a school wall in Umag, Croatia, depicting a hand counting was removed due to likeness to the Serbian salute.[19] Foreigners are warned not to use the salute in Croatia.[20][21]